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Blu Cantrell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Blu Cantrell | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Tiffany Cobb |
| Born | October 01, 1976 Providence, Rhode Island, United States |
| Genre(s) | R&B, soul |
| Occupation(s) | singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 2001-present |
| Label(s) | Arista Records (2001-2003) Universal/Motown (2006-present) |
| Website | Official website |
Blu Cantrell (born Tiffany Cobb on October 1, 1976 in Providence, Rhode Island) is a Grammy Award-nominated R&B and soul singer.
Contents |
Cantrell was born to an Italian-American jazz singer mother, and an African American NBA player father.
After several demos, recordings and singing backup for artists such as Puff Daddy, Truth Hurts and Faith Evans, Cantrell was discovered by Red Zone Entertainment heads Tab and Laney Stewart in early 2000. The producers promptly placed her to Antonio "L.A." Reid who offered the singer a contract with his label Arista Records after a successful audition. Afterwards Cantrell went straight into recording sessions with Dallas Austin, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In 2001, the singer released her debut album, So Blu, which eventually was certified platinum. The record saw major success when it peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, eventually selling over 800,000 copies in the United States. The album featured the hit single "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)", which peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and earned Cantrell a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, as well as an American Music Awards nomination. The album also showcases her ability to go into the whistle register with the song "Waste My Time."[citation needed] In 2003, Cantrell released her second album, Bittersweet. The record failed to reprise the success of her debut album but did earn Cantrell a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album and managed to enter the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart at #8. The album spawned 2 hit singles, these being "Breathe" and "Make Me Wanna Scream", of which the first is a collaboration with Sean Paul. Though "Breathe" failed to reach the top 50 in the U.S., it peaked at number one for four weeks in the UK. It eventually became one of the most successful singles of the year in both Europe and Australia.
In 2003, she was to appear in Playboy magazine (and would have been only the fourth African-American woman to appear on the cover); but decided against it at the last minute (despite nude photos she posed for much earlier in her career having already been circulated) because "I felt it was going to make me more of a Sex symbol and I didn't want anything to take away from the fact that I can sing." [1]
In the summer of 2005, a music video for the previously unreleased song, "The Cha Cha" was produced, but never released because the production agreement over the song was unfairly advantageous to the prodcuer and left Blu virtually out of the loop, so the video and the song were shelved. Also, in 2005, Hit 'em Up Style: Chart and Club Hits was released without any promotion in the U.S. It was a compilation/remix album containing Cantrell's two biggest hits, some other tracks from the former two albums and some remixes of tracks featured on the first albums. Blu continues to enjoy acclaim by European audiences.
Blu Cantrell is set to star in a play, on Sept 29th, called 'Gossip, Lies & Secrets'[2]. The stageplay will tour in 15 cities.
- (2001) - So Blu
- (2003) - Bittersweet
- (2004) - From L.A. to L.O. (Mixtape)
- (2005) - Hit 'em Up Style: Chart and Club Hits of Blu Cantrell (Unofficial Release)
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 100 | US R&B | UK | IRE | AUS | SUI | AUT | FR | |||
| 2001 | "Hit 'em Up Style (Oops!)" | 2 | 6 | 12 | — | 3 | 77 | — | 47 | So Blu |
| 2001 | "I'll Find A Way" | — | 104 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2002 | "Till I'm Gone" | — | 115 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2002 | "Round Up" (with Lady May) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Bittersweet |
| 2003 | "Breathe" (featuring Sean Paul) | 70 | 83 | 1 (4) | 1 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 13 | |
| 2003 | "Sleep In The Middle" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2004 | "Make Me Wanna Scream" (featuring Ian Lewis) | — | — | 24 | 33 | 62 | 60 | 68 | — | |
| Year | Song | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | "U Remind Me" [Remix] (with Usher & Method Man) | The Dome, Vol. 19 |
| 2002 | "Round Up" (Lady May) | Bittersweet |
| 2004 | "Take My Heart" (Kool & the Gang) | The Hits: Reloaded |
http://www.angeladunlap.com/ 'Gossip, Lies & Secrets' Site, Contains Clip
- Howell, Stephen. "Blu Cantrell bio". Accessed Jun. 16, 2005.
- Top 40 world charts
Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | American rhythm and blues singers | American female singers | American adult models | African-American singers | Italian-American musicians | People from Providence, Rhode Island | People from Atlanta | 1976 births | Living people